


Nothing Lasts Forever Except Perhaps Memory

by Meddalarksen



Series: 30 AU Challenge - Natasha [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-18 22:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12397947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meddalarksen/pseuds/Meddalarksen
Summary: Natasha and Clint have been working in secrecy for months if not years in an attempt to build a machine to remove the conditioning that was implanted in Natasha's mind years ago. They've only barely evaded their pursuers, but tonight they can't run any further.





	Nothing Lasts Forever Except Perhaps Memory

Natasha ran swiftly through the dark alleys. Her breath was growing ragged and her heart beat too fast. She had to get to the agreed meeting place. That was the rule. If either of them was more than thirty minutes late, they had to move on with only the smallest clue of where. It was keeping them only barely a step ahead so far. The clockwork rattled in the hidden pockets of her skirt and she hissed between her teeth at the additional noise.

She was two streets from the hide hole when someone grabbed her by the upper arm and yanked her into the shadows of a doorway. It was the work of a second to pull out her rapid-firing derringer and press it to her assailant’s head.

“Shit! Natasha, it’s me!”

This was not how it went. They met at their hiding place, not before it. “The storm breaks in London,” she grit out.

There was a moment’s pause and his brow creased above grey eyes. The hesitation was long enough that she drew the hammer back on her gun, “But they drown in Liverpool. Jesus, Nat, put it down.”

Natasha carefully uncocked the gun and lowered it, but held it at the ready, “What are you doing here, Clint?”

“We’ve been compromised. I don’t know how they found us, but they did and we can’t go back. I had to get you before you got there and walked right into them,” he said, and she finally noticed the bag over his shoulder.

“We have to get the--”

“Core. I’ve got it here, and the plans. Anything I could grab quickly or was too important to leave behind.”

Natasha looked down the street, “Damnit. We were so close. And it’s almost--”

“No, I broke it into such small parts that I don’t think even the cogs’re useful anymore.”

Natasha paused and then offered him a small smile, barely a tipped up corner of her lips, “I knew there was a reason I asked for your help.”

“Asked she says,” Clint muttered, but his eyes were amused. There was an explosion in the direction of their old hiding place, “And that’s our cue. Let’s get going before they figure out we weren’t in there.”

Natasha nodded and the two of them disappeared into the shadows of the alleys, moving quickly. They had the most important pieces, but they had been __so close__. “We’re going to have to re-steal a casing.”

Clint grimaced and nodded, “Yeah, I couldn’t grab that. It’ll take us a long time to rebuild. But, what about that inventor you know?”

Natasha shook her head sharply, “No. Even if I did trust him, he’s too well known. They’ll know he would be able to build this and they’ll have his correspondence and purchases under observation. No, if we’re going to do this we have to do it ourselves.”

“What happens if we get it all assembled and it doesn’t work?” Clint asked.

Natasha curled her hands into fists before she relaxed them again, “It has to work. There’s too much that depends on this. Not just me, but James too. It could completely cripple __them__  if they can’t program us again.”

She came to a stop in the same instant Clint did, both of them lifting their heads and listening, tense as bows. He swore after a moment, “They found us.”

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, “Fight or run. Your call.”

He was already reaching into his coat even as he slung the bag off his shoulder and handed it to her, “Both. You’re faster than I am. Get going, I’ll buy you time.”

“Clint, they’ll--”

“They have to take me first. And besides,” he offered her a grin that was just a little too sharp, “that’s what that machine is supposed to fix, right?” He turned and took off back the way they had come and Natasha slung the rucksack over her shoulder and took off running in the other direction, silently promising to come back for him as soon as the core was safe.


End file.
